1. Field of the Invention (Technical Field)
Embodiments of the present invention are related to Earth or air launch reusable rocket vehicle systems.
2. Background of the Invention
Note that the following discussion refers to a number of publications and references. Discussion of such publications herein is given for more complete background of the scientific principles and is not to be construed as an admission that such publications are prior art for patentability determination purposes.
Previous designs for reusable rocket systems include: 1) Earth liftoff boost stages which execute short-range turnaround return to the launch site or a downrange site by ballistic, glide or powered flight with parachutes, vertical-touchdown or horizontal airstrip recovery; 2) Earth liftoff single-stage-to-orbit (SSTO) launchers to low-Earth-orbit (LEO) which return to any Earth site by ballistic, glide or powered flight with parachute, vertical-touchdown or horizontal airstrip recovery: 3) air-launch for any of the above. The SSTO option has long been dismissed as “too technologically risky” because of vehicle development dry weight uncertainty.